Salvation is nearer than when you first believed

Romans 13:11-12a Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. “Do this.” What is the “this”? What had Paul written for his readers to do? “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another…love your neighbor as yourself.” In this verse Paul zeroed in on the reasoning behind loving with Jesus: Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed in Him. It’s like you’ve been asleep all night and as the day dawns and the light increases in the room, you know it’s time to get up and become productive. The night is almost over and the day is near. We are encouraged by this verse that before we were converted, we were spiritually dead which in this verse Paul used the analogy of being asleep. When you were asleep, you were inactive, unproductive, and unfruitful. You had no awareness of God’s Law or His love. But now that you have received God’s grace according to His mercies, the hour has already arrived for you to wake up! Get out of bed, you sleepyhead! Your salvation or deliverance from this dark world is nearer than when you were converted. The word for nearer literally conveys the idea of to press or squeeze. It’s the same picture Paul drew in Rom. 8:22-23 when he wrote, “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” The picture is that the time of the birth or delivery of the body of Christ, which is being prepared in the womb of creation is near. All creation and history is pressing and squeezing upon us with the birth of the body of Christ in view on that Great Day. It is nearer than when our spirits received the Holy Spirit and new life was conceived in us. In a sense, Paul was encouraging them to move toward the light, the day, like the infant in the womb moves through the birth canal toward the light. Your deliverance from the pressing and squeezing of this world with its darkness and tribulation is near. So do this: love one another! You’re about to be born together as one. I hope this encourages you as it does me. Hope rises in my heart even as I think on these things, write them and speak them. Our delivery date is near. Wake up with excitement and a God-glorifying sense of joy and expectation! You have another day to live to love with Jesus. I invite you to share the Live to Love scripture podcast with your friends and family members who you know are looking forward to that Great Day of redemption. They need encouragement just like you do. If the Live to Love scripture encouragements have been encouraging to you, please pass on the encouragement to those you love. Also, please introduce them to livetolovewithjesus.com. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com